"The nest is formed of roots, twigs, and grass loosely worked
together, and over the exterior, with the view of binding the mass
together, dried or skeleton leaves, pieces of cloth, broad pieces
of grass, and plaintain-bark are fastened carelessly on by means of
cobwebs and the silk from cocoons. The egg-cavity is lined with fine
roots.
"I never have found more than three eggs; on several occasions only
two."
I do not think it possible to separate the Andaman bird. Of its
nidification in those islands Mr. Davison says:--"I found a nest of
this species in April near Port Blair, in a low mangrove-bush growing
quite at the edge of the water; it (the nest) was cup-shaped and
composed of roots, dried leaves, and small pieces of bark, lined
with fine roots and cocoanut fibres; it contained three eggs, with a
pinkish-white ground thickly mottled and blotched with purplish red,
the spots coalescing at the thicker end to form a zone."
Mr. J.H. Cripps writes from Eastern Bengal:--"Very common and a
permanent resident; it freely enters gardens and orchards. In my
garden there was a kamiinee-tree (_Murraya exotica_), in which I found
a nest of this species on the 27th March in course of construction;
and on looking at it on the 12th April found two young that had just
been hatched. Cane-brakes are favourite places for them to nest in.
On the 6th May I found a nest in one of these about 4 feet off the
ground, and containing three partly incubated eggs. This species does
not, as a rule, build in such exposed situations as _M. bengalensis_;
it eats the fruit of jungly trees, _Ficis_, &c., as well as insects."
On the breeding of this Bulbul in Pegu Mr. Gates remarks:--"This bird
breeds as early as February, on the 27th of which month I procured a
nest with two eggs nearly hatched. It stops nesting, I think, at the
beginning of the rains."
Mr. W. Davison informs us that he "took a nest of this bird at
Bankasoon, in Southern Tenasserim, on the 15th March. It was placed in
a small bush growing in an old garden about 4 feet above the ground.
The nest was of the usual type, a compactly-woven cup, composed
externally of dry twigs, leaves, &c., the egg-cavity lined with
fibres. It contained three nearly fresh eggs."
The eggs in size, colour, and shape closely resemble those of
_Molpastes leucotis_. All that I have said in regard to these latter
is applicable to those of the present species, and, so far as
varieties of coloration go, the description of the eggs of _Molpastes
leucogenys_ is equally applicable to those of the present species. If
any distinction can be drawn, it is that, as a body, bold blotches of
rich red and pale purple are more commonly exhibited in the eggs of
this species than in those of either of the preceding ones.
In length the eggs vary from 0·8 to 0·9, and in breadth from 0·85 to
0·7, but the average of twenty-seven eggs was 0·83 nearly, by 0·63
barely.
289. Otocompsa fuscicaudata, Gould. _The Southern Red-whiskered
Bulbul_.